At the grave
by yes-I-am-a-genius
Summary: He had been standing at the grave for nearly an hour. He finally spoke... UPDATED. Now they have a case and Reid still feels guilty.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Criminak Minds. This is just one chapter. If you want more like this, you will have to ask. Enjoy!**

It was frigidly cold. Even so, he was only wearing a thin sweater to shield him from the elements. His breath made wispy clouds in the chilly air. The moon was a perfect whole. It illuminated his environment. He stood before a headstone; it was new, its polish fresh, only a few days exposed. To a passerby, he appeared to be perfectly still- a statue, save for the excessive blinking. But up close you could see that he was trembling, although not from the cold. Glistening tears were streaming down the young man's pale cheeks, which were rosey from the cold. He had been standing there for nearly an hour. He finally spoke.

"I-I'm-I'm so sorry. It wasn't supposed to end this way," his voice was a whisper- barely audible. "You could have told us sooner... or at least talked to one of us-me. We could have-and would have- helped you." The tears were falling quicker now. There was a lump in his throat. "B-b-but now you're," he swallowed and closed his eyes. "...you're... gone. And I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye." At this, his voice cracked, and he was full-on sobbing by now. He sat down at the foot of the stone, tracing the words with his fingers.

EMILY PRENTISS

OCTOBER 12, 1970 – MARCH 7, 2011

FIDELITY, BRAVERY, INTEGRITY

A man softly walks up to him from behind. He puts his hand on the young man's shoulder, startling him.

"Pretty boy, you can't make her come back. She's gone."

The young man stands up and faces the man. He is trembling unstoppably now.

"Don't you think that I know that, Morgan? I'm a freakin' genius for crying out loud!" he snaps.

Morgan takes a cautious step backward. He doesn't want to anger him further.

"Reid, calm down, it's okay. I didn't mean to upset you. I said that more to myself than to you."

Reid limply nods his head in place of the word 'yes'. He suddenly remembers that he was crying. He wipes his eyes, embarrassed. He clears his throat.

"Morgan, why are you here? To spy on me? I'm not three years old, I can take care of myself," he says defensibly.

"No, and I have no doubt that you can take care of yourself. We have a case and you weren't answering your cell, so I took a hunch that you were here, and I guess that I was right."

Reid apologizes, "Sorry. I left my phone in my car. I have my go bag. I'll head to Quantico right now." He heads for his car, but Morgan's voice makes him stop and turn around.

"Hey man, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking," he replied assuringly. He continues towards his car.

As he slips into his beat up car, a thought crosses his mind. '_If I __am__ fine, then for how much longer_?'


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, you asked for more, you shall recieve! I know that my chapters aren't too long, but stay with me! I have turned this into a case. (Oh, and if you want me to write anything else/new, just say so!)**

Reid doesn't waste any time getting to the B.A.U. He doesn't want Hotch mad at him on top of his friend just dying. No, that defiantly wasn't on the top of his to-do list.

"Where have you been, young man? We've been trying to get ahold of you! Isn't it past your curfew?" Garcia scolds.

"I had some, uh, unfinished business to take care of," Reid looked down at the floor and replied. At that moment, Morgan walked into the room.

"Lay off of him, Baby Girl. Growing boys need their space," Morgan told Garcia playfully, but his seriousness crept through all too much. Rossi turned to Reid.

"Listen, if you need anything or you want to ta-" Hotch cuts him off.

"Good, you all showed up. I know that it's late, but there is a reason I called you all out at 1:17 in the morning. Garcia could you please start?" Hotch says with a tone of authority.

"Where's Seaver?" Morgan asks as Garcia distributes the files.

"She has some more training to complete before she can join us again," Hotch replies and continues with the case. "Ellsworth, Maine. Yesterday at 9:45 thirty students, six teachers, and a bus driver from Ellsworth High School went on a field trip to Belfast Area High School for a quiz bowl approximately fifty minutes away. None of them made it back. They should have arrived back at the school by 5:00 PM. Belfast High reports that the bus left there at 3:47 PM. The bus driver called in to Ellsworth High at 3:50 PM. The last cellphone contact from any of them was at 4:03 PM."

"It says here that at 5:30 Ellsworth High called the bus, but no one responded. At 6:00 the school called the local police, who contacted the other high school, who in turn sent out an officer to look for the bus, but found nothing. Why didn't they contact us until now? They were missing for over eight hours!" Rossi exclaims.

"They probably figured that the bus had broken down in a remote area with no cell service and stopped off for something to eat," Morgan answers.

"If that were true, why didn't they call in to Ellsworth or Belfast when they reached someplace to eat?" Reid questions.

"What if they got lost? Then they couldn't have called because they didn't make it," Morgan argues.

Reid shakes his head. "That still seems improbable. The group most likely was familiar with the area; I mean it was only an hour away."

Hotch interjects. "We can discuss this further on the jet. Wheels up in ten."

Rossi, Morgan, and Garcia leave the room, but Reid and Hotch stay. Reid is oblivious, studying the pictures of the missing while Hotch is gathering some stuff. Hotch clears his throat to gain Reid's attention.

"The rest of the team has already left for the jet. Is there something that you would like to talk about, Spencer?" Hotch asks the young genius.

"What? Oh, sorry, Hotch. I'll be going to the jet right now," Reid apologizes to his superior.

Hotch's voice stops him from walking out the door. "Reid. Is there something that you would like to talk about on the way? Morgan told me where you were. He called me before he talked to you. I would appreciate it if you were a hundred percent focused on this case- or at least put your own problems away from you for a bit."

The two men walk to the elevator, pausing for Reid to pick up his go bag off of his desk.

"Hotch, I... I just really miss Emily, you know? I, I feel like I f-failed her in some way and I wish that there was some way to fix it between us," Reid tells Hotch, a bit timidly.

"Reid, we all feel like that. Don't beat yourself up over it. There was nothing that any of us could have done. Reid, you did not fail her, so stop telling yourself that. None of us could have known," Hotch told him firmly.

Reid nodded, confirming that he understood. 'Yeah, but there was something that I could have done. She was dropping hints... if only I could have figured out who Lauren Reynolds was, or why she kept getting all of those phone calls... Oh, Emily, I'm so sorry,' Reid thought to himself.


End file.
